Note that in Revised Standard Version this is a continuation of the sentence started in verse 13. But it will probably be better to begin a new sentence, as in Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, and others.

Came: or “have come” (New Revised Standard Version), or “now I am here” (Moffatt and Knox).

To make you understand: that is, “to help you to comprehend” or “to enable you to know.” There is no thought of forcing Daniel against his will to understand.

In the latter days: this phrase and the one that follows in the next sentence, for days yet to come, both refer to the future. The word translated yet in Revised Standard Version has been revised in New Revised Standard Version to “a further vision.” It is understood as meaning “new” in New Jerusalem Bible: “This is a new vision about those days.” New American Bible has similarly followed this interpretation, applying the word yet to the verb rather than to the noun days. The result is “for there is yet a vision concerning those days.” This interpretation is probably to be preferred.

The rendering of this verse may be compared with Hab 2.3, from which it is thought by some scholars to be borrowed.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .